November 6th One Year Bible Readings

“Son of man, suppose the people of a country were to sin against me, and I lifted my fist to crush them, cutting off their food supply and sending a famine to destroy both people and animals.

Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, their righteousness would save no one but themselves, says the Sovereign Lord.”

The first thing these verses tell us is that God’s judgment upon Jerusalem at this time was certain. Even the righteousness of Noah, Daniel, and Job couldn’t change that – only these 3 men would have been saved.

However, this got me thinking. Is it possible that sometimes today we try to build up our own righteousness to ensure our own salvation and basically do nothing to try to build up others righteousness and help them toward their salvation? Meaning, do we sometimes retreat into a “Christian bubble” and ignore the rest of “the world.” Leave them to their own devices. It just made me think when reading about Noah, Daniel, and Job that my hunch is that these 3 would not just chill out and relax in the glory and certitude of their own righteousness. My hunch is that they would get out there on the streets and try to save others. So, what about you and me? Are we just cocooning in our own righteousness and salvation, or are we taking salvation to the streets? Are we retreating from the battle for others’ salvation or are we engaged in it? What say you?

Ezekiel chapter 14 verse 23 tells us today: “When you meet them and see their behavior, you will agree that these things are not being done to Israel without cause, says the Sovereign LORD.” I think sometimes we can read some select verses in the Old Testament out of context and think God is being harsh. God here reminds us that he is not being harsh without cause. And we’ll see more of the cause in chapter 16 today… Below is an image of Ezekiel prophesying to the elders who visited him in chapter 14 verse 1:

Ezekiel chapter 15 is an interesting one for me today, where God basically calls Jerusalem a useless grape vine. In reading this I am also reminded that Jesus in John 15 uses the grape vine analogy again saying “I am the vine and you are the branches.” This tells me that Jesus redeems even useless grape vines! :) However, using this Ezekiel analogy, are we growing in our lives like trees or like vines? How thick are your roots? How solid is your core?

Ezekiel chapter 16 is a fascinating and sad look at the city of Jerusalem. This is the first time I have really spent a little bit of time with this chapter. The question I find for myself in reading this chapter is this: has God blessed us similarly in some ways that he blessed Jerusalem? Have we, perhaps, in some ways used the blessings that God has given us in improper ways? Verse 6 in this chapter stood out to me: “But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there, I said, `Live!'” Bible commentaries suggest that this one word – Live! – is God’s basic desire for all humans. How powerful is that realization? How very beautiful… Live! Let us Live!Ezekiel Prophesying.

Ezekiel, the third of the great Hebrew prophets, was the son of the priest Buzi. (Ezekiel i, 3). He was probably born about 620 or 630 years before Christ, and was consequently a contemporary of Jeremiah and Daniel, to the latter of whom he alludes in chapters xiv, 14-20 and xxviii, 3.

When Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar in 597 B.C. (2 Kings xxiv, 8-16; Jeremiah xxix, 1-2; Ezekiel xvii, 12; xix, 9), Ezekiel was carried captive along with Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah, king of Judah, and thousands of other Jewish prisoners, to Babylonia, or as he himself calls it, “the land of the Chaldeans.” (Ezekiel i, 3).

Here, along with his exiled fellow-countrymen, he lived on the banks of the river Chebar (Ezekiel i, 1-3), in a house of his own (viii, i). Here also he married, and here, too, his wife, “the desire of his eyes,” was taken from him “with a stroke” (Ezekiel xxiv, 15-18). His prophetic career extended over twenty-two years, from about 592 B.C. to about 570 B.C.

The book bearing his name is written in a mystical and symbolical style, and abounds with visions and difficult allegories which indicate on the part of the author the possession of a vivid and sublime imagination.

Ezekiel’s authorship of it has been questioned. The Talmud attributes it to the Great Synagogue, of which Ezekiel was not a member. It is divisible into two portions. The first (chapters i-xxiv) was written before, and the second (chapters xxv-xlviii) after, the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C, the eleventh year of the prophet’s captivity (Ezekiel xxvi, 1-2; XI, i). The present text is very imperfect, being corrupted by the interpolation of glosses and other additions by later hands.

Doré’s picture represents the prophet uttering his oracles to his fellow-exiles (“them of the captivity”), or to the “elders of Judah,” or “elders of Israel,” on one of the occasions to which he himself alludes (viii, I; xi, 25; xiv, I; xx, I).

Arrows
The king of Babylon resorting to divination by arrows – Ezek.21.21.

Chamber
Vision of the chambers of imagery – Ezek.8.7-12.

Eagle
Parable of the eagles and the vine – Ezek.17.

Idols
The destruction of the idolatrous Israelites before their idols – Ezek.6.4,5.

Judgement
Vision of judgment upon Jerusalem – Ezek.9.1-7.

Siege
Ezekiel portraying the siege of Jerusalem – Ezek.4.1.

Temple
Vision of the temple – Ezek.40.

Vision
Ezekiel`s vision – Ezk.1 & 10.

Ezekiel 14:12-16:41 ~ Hebrews 7:18-28 ~ Psalm 106:1-

12 ~ Proverbs 27:4-New International Version (NIV)

Jerusalem’s Judgment Inescapable

Ezekiel
The vision of Ezekiel – from a 14th century illuminated Bible.

12 The word of the Lord came to me: 13

“Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its people and their animals, 14 even if these three men—Noah, Daniel[a] and Job—were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord.

Waters
Vision of the holy waters – Ezek.47.

15 “Or if I send wild beasts through that country and they leave it childless and it becomes desolate so that no one can pass through it because of the beasts, 16 as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate.

Tyre
The capture of Tyre – Ezek.27.

17 “Or if I bring a sword against that country and say, ‘Let the sword pass throughout the land,’ and I kill its people and their animals, 18 as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved.

Nations
Types of the principal nations mentioned in Ezekiel xxx.

19 “Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out my wrath on it through bloodshed, killing its people and their animals, 20 as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they could save neither son nor daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness.

Elders
Ezekiel prophesying to the elders who had visited him – Ezek.14.1.

21 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments—sword and famine and wild beasts and plague—to kill its men and their animals! 22 Yet there will be some survivors—sons and daughters who will be brought out of it. They will come to you, and when you see their conduct and their actions, you will be consoled regarding the disaster I have brought on Jerusalem—every disaster I have brought on it. 23 You will be consoled when you see their conduct and their actions, for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

Jerusalem as a Useless Vine

Ezekiel
Ezekiel – a portrait by Guy Rowe.

15 The word of the Lord came to me: 2

“Son of man, how is the wood of a vine different from that of a branch from any of the trees in the forest? 3 Is wood ever taken from it to make anything useful? Do they make pegs from it to hang things on? 4 And after it is thrown on the fire as fuel and the fire burns both ends and chars the middle, is it then useful for anything? 5 If it was not useful for anything when it was whole, how much less can it be made into something useful when the fire has burned it and it is charred?

6 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As I have given the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest as fuel for the fire, so will I treat the people living in Jerusalem. 7 I will set my face against them. Although they have come out of the fire, the fire will yet consume them. And when I set my face against them, you will know that I am the Lord. 8 I will make the land desolate because they have been unfaithful, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

Jerusalem as an Adulterous Wife

Lioness
Lioness and whelps – Ezek.19.

16 The word of the Lord came to me: 2

“Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices 3 and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. 5 No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised.

6 “‘Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, “Live!”[b]7 I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew and developed and entered puberty. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, yet you were stark naked.

8 “‘Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.

Egypt
Sepulchral monuments and mummy pits of ancient Egypt – Ezek.32.

9 “‘I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. 10 I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. 11 I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, 12 and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. 14 And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign Lord.

15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his. 16 You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. You went to him, and he possessed your beauty.[c]17 You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them. 18 And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them, and you offered my oil and incense before them. 19 Also the food I provided for you—the flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat—you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what happened, declares the Sovereign Lord.

20 “‘And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? 21 You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. 22 In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood.

23 “‘Woe! Woe to you, declares the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness, 24 you built a mound for yourself and made a lofty shrine in every public square. 25 At every street corner you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty, spreading your legs with increasing promiscuity to anyone who passed by. 26 You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your neighbors with large genitals, and aroused my anger with your increasing promiscuity. 27 So I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your territory; I gave you over to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were shocked by your lewd conduct. 28 You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians too, because you were insatiable; and even after that, you still were not satisfied. 29 Then you increased your promiscuity to include Babylonia,[d] a land of merchants, but even with this you were not satisfied.

30 “‘I am filled with fury against you,[e] declares the Sovereign Lord, when you do all these things, acting like a brazen prostitute! 31 When you built your mounds at every street corner and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were unlike a prostitute, because you scorned payment.

32 “‘You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband! 33 All prostitutes receive gifts, but you give gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors. 34 So in your prostitution you are the opposite of others; no one runs after you for your favors. You are the very opposite, for you give payment and none is given to you.

Bones
Ezekiel`s vision of the Valley of Dry Bones – Ezek.37.

35 “‘Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the Lord! 36 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you poured out your lust and exposed your naked body in your promiscuity with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because you gave them your children’s blood, 37 therefore I am going to gather all your lovers, with whom you found pleasure, those you loved as well as those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and will strip you in front of them, and they will see you stark naked. 38 I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood; I will bring on you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger. 39 Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will tear down your mounds and destroy your lofty shrines. They will strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry and leave you stark naked. 40 They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and hack you to pieces with their swords. 41 They will burn down your houses and inflict punishment on you in the sight of many women. I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer pay your lovers.

Footnotes:

Ezekiel 14:14 Or Danel, a man of renown in ancient literature; also in verse 20

Ezekiel 16:6 A few Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts repeat and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, “Live!”

Ezekiel 16:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.